The EU Commission proposes legislation to increase fairness and transparency on online platforms

EU Commission, Regulation on Promoting Fairness and Transparency for Business Users of Online Intermediation Services, 2018/0112 (COD), 26 April 2018

On 26 April 2018, the European Commission proposed a new Regulation on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (the “Proposed Regulation”).
The Proposed Regulation aims to address business practices which are likely to be harmful to business users which use online platforms to sell goods and services to consumers. Under this legislation, online platform providers will be required to: (i) update their terms and conditions; (ii) comply with a range of transparency requirements; and (iii) implement a dispute resolution mechanism. The proposal comes as part of the Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy, which aims to remove obstacles to the free circulation of goods, services, capital and data from online marketplaces.
The Proposed